


Deception Squared

by Warp5Complex_Archivist



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-04-02
Updated: 2006-04-02
Packaged: 2018-08-16 00:09:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8079286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warp5Complex_Archivist/pseuds/Warp5Complex_Archivist
Summary: Deception begets deception. Missing scene, 3.21 "E2." Canon AU. Includes Archer/f. (05/20/2004)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Kylie Lee, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Warp 5 Complex](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Warp_5_Complex), the software of which ceased to be maintained and created a security hazard. To make future maintenance and archive growth easier, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but I may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Warp 5 Complex collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Warp5Complex).

  
Author's notes: Comments: My take on Malcolm's, er, past?, in 3.21 "E2."  
  
Beta: Helyn Highwater  


* * *

Malcolm followed the young woman through the corridors of the other _Enterprise_ , wondering who had requested to see him. There weren't any of his descendants on board, he knew, so he couldn't imagine someone wanting to talk to him. Unless their armory officer wanted to talk about tactics.

But it hurt that whoever it was had sent Karyn Archer to find him. Granted, this mysterious person probably didn't know about Malcolm's past relationship with Jonathan Archer, or the torch Malcolm still carried for his captain, but coming face to face with the great granddaughter of his former lover was not something one could prepare themselves for.

Karyn stopped at a door that looked like it led to crew quarters and pressed the stud to open it. "In here, Lieutenant."

Malcolm nodded at her. "Thank you," he said as he slipped past her into the darkened room. The door shut behind him, and he blinked against the gloom to see a figure standing in front of the windows. There were candles lit around the room, and some knick-knacks that Malcolm recognized as Vulcan. His eyes went back to the figure by the windows, his mind calculating what he knew of Vulcan lifespans. It was entirely possible this was—"T'Pol?"

The figured turned, a slight smile crossing her lips. "Malcolm. It is good to see you again, after all these years."

T'Pol had aged considerably, but she was close to two hundred years old. Her movements were stiff, her voice shaky, but it was T'Pol.

"I did not expect to see you on board," Malcolm said honestly.

She nodded. "Captain Archer was surprised as well. But I needed to speak with you on a private matter." She gestured to the bed as she moved toward it. "Please, have a seat."

Malcolm sat down, and she did as well. Her faded brown eyes searched his face. "I had the computer set to alert me when you accessed your records. I knew you would be...surprised when you learned that Jonathan Archer had married an Ikaaran women and had children with her." At his start of surprise, T'Pol tilted her head. "I knew of your relationship with Jonathan, as well as when it ended. I never said anything because you did not, and neither did he."

"We never thought it was anyone else's business, so long as it did not affect our working relationship," Malcolm said stiffly.

"It did not," T'Pol reassured. "But I wanted to speak with you regarding your life after _Enterprise_ was stranded in the past."

"I didn't have much of one," Malcolm said. "I didn't marry, I didn't have children. I didn't even have Jonathan to keep me company before I died on that trading mission." The ship's logs had revealed Malcolm had died a few years after _Enterprise_ had been stuck, killed in a terrorist explosion on a trading planet in the midst of a political uprising.

"You didn't die in that explosion, Malcolm. You just took advantage of the explosion to disappear."

Malcolm stared at her, shocked. "I what?"

"You took advantage of the explosion to disappear. You left _Enterprise_ , and let us believe that you died. The magnitude of the explosion was such that most of the people caught in it were incinerated. It was easy for you to place enough personal items and DNA markers in the debris to ensure you were considered a casualty."

"But why?" Malcolm asked. "I can't imagine leaving _Enterprise_ when we were stranded over a century in the past. What would I have done?"

Someone behind Malcolm spoke. "Worked for us."

Malcolm turned to face Daniels, who was standing by the doorway in his Starfleet steward uniform. The time traveling agent came forward, nodding at T'Pol. "We knew that it was crucial for this _Enterprise_ to survive, if your _Enterprise_ was to avoid the same fate. So we needed someone from _Enterprise_ to supervise the ship's timeline, to ensure that Lorien and his crew were in the right place at the right time for this meeting."

"Why not ensure they stopped the first probe?"

Daniels sighed. "We can change certain things, Malcolm, but we can't change the split second human decisions. Lorien's moment of hesitation was not something we could change—you argued against changing it when it happened, because there were too many things that could have gone wrong if we did."

"I'm still alive?" Malcolm was shocked.

Daniels smiled. "Time travel is a strange thing. Once we took you to the thirty first century, everything had happened. You just monitored _Enterprise_ for us. Now that this ship has met with yours, I'm sure you'll probably retire from our service. I suspect your spouse and children would be happy if you did."

"But if we didn't go back in time," Malcolm began, only to be cut off by Daniels.

"Believe me, Malcolm, getting into temporal mechanics and paradoxes would have us here for a few years. Suffice to say, you will continue to thrive in the future as well as here. So long as you don't travel back in time from the future, there won't be a problem." Daniels grinned. "And considering how much Nathan hates you traveling back in time, I'm not concerned."

T'Pol spoke, bringing Malcolm's attention back to her. "Before you left the ship, you'd informed me of your plans, to ensure that someone on board would know the truth. I didn't stop you because I knew Jonathan's marriage to his Ikaaran wife had hurt you deeply. I did not know you had married in the future, but I am pleased you found someone to spend your life with."

Malcolm nodded, still trying to comprehend all they had told him.

"I need to return," Daniels said. "Lieutenant," he started, then hesitated, looking at the ground. Finally he looked back up. "Things will work out," he finally said. "I can't tell you anything other than that."

Malcolm raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Thank you, Daniels."

The agent nodded and turned, opened the door to T'Pol's locker and went into it, apparently to his own world, as when Malcolm got up to close the door, all he saw was clothing.

"Was he happy?" Malcolm asked as he closed the door.

"Jonathan was happy," T'Pol answered. Her years with Trip had allowed her to develop the ability to prevaricate well. Jonathan Archer had been happy with his wife and children, but after Malcolm's supposed death, there had always been a shadow behind his eyes.

After the memorial service for Malcolm, the MACOs had thrown him a military wake, their differences forgotten with the loss of one of their own. Jonathan had attended, along with Trip, and had gotten extremely drunk. Trip later told T'Pol that Jonaathan had confessed that night that he felt responsible for Malcolm's death—believing that he'd driven him to it by breaking their relationship off during the mission in the Expanse, and then by getting married. T'Pol knew that Jonathan Archer never stopped blaming himself for Malcolm's death. But she wasn't going to tell that to Malcolm. Sometimes the past was best left in the past.

Malcolm turned back to T'Pol. "Thank you for, well, everything. Then and now, I guess."

She nodded. "You are welcome, Lieutenant. I wish you well in the future."

Malcolm crossed the room and took T'Pol's hands, leaning down to kiss her cheek. "Live Long and Prosper."

Malcolm left her room then, returning to his repair work on _Enterprise_ , trying to sort out in his mind what he had been told. It wasn't that he didn't believe T'Pol and Daniels, but rather that it had been all to easy to believe the official version of his life. It took time to assimilate the actual facts.

Taking a break for lunch, he was still mulling over the fact that he'd gotten married in the future and had children when he sat down with Travis and Hoshi.

"So, Lieutenant, who did you marry?"

Malcolm looked up, shocked that Hoshi would ask. He couldn't tell her the truth, although it was on the tip of his tongue. Getting himself under control, he looked up and realized the deception he'd created all those years ago hadn't just been for Jonathan Archer's benefit. It had been for this moment, too. He laughed silently at himself for planning this far into the future, even as he told Hoshi and Travis the official fiction of his past.


End file.
